Rand Paul Taunts Hillary Clinton After GOP Victory

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by whell

Establishing a democratic form of gov't in Iraq was a worthy goal. Kind of like Obamacare. To bad neither of them worked out well.

“No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War.” (Richard M. Nixon, 1985)

This is a better excuse since there were no expectations other than fighting Communism. And then we built China into the world's second largest economy.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by whell

...except we're not dealing with sensible people over there. A solution that is not workable is not a solution.

So exactly what do you think is happening there right now? The Sunnis are welcoming ISIS, The Kurds are going their own way and the new 'government' is sucking up to Iran.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by whell

Establishing a democratic form of gov't in Iraq was a worthy goal. Kind of like Obamacare. To bad neither of them worked out well.

Whell the muslims do not want democracy, they much prefer a theocracy. You would think that after all these years it would be clear to Americans that you can't give people democracy, they have to want it then it might be possible to help them get there.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by merrylander

So exactly what do you think is happening there right now? The Sunnis are welcoming ISIS, The Kurds are going their own way and the new 'government' is sucking up to Iran.

Originally Posted by merrylander

Whell the muslims do not want democracy, they much prefer a theocracy. You would think that after all these years it would be clear to Americans that you can't give people democracy, they have to want it then it might be possible to help them get there.

Yep. We're somehow still fighting a fight to retain some ill-conceived line in the sand drawn by a gin-besotted Brit after WWI.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by whell

Establishing a democratic form of gov't in Iraq was a worthy goal. Kind of like Obamacare. To bad neither of them worked out well.

Because American Religious Right is just as brainwashed, stuck in the distant past and mired in their own dogmas as the Islamic despots of the Middle East. And they hate Democracy nearly as much.

You're a peach, Sunshine!
Dave

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Yep. We're somehow still fighting a fight to retain some ill-conceived line in the sand drawn by a gin-besotted Brit after WWI.

Well, it's because we have a God-given authority to control the whole world.

You haven't heard?

Dave

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Whell the muslims do not want democracy, they much prefer a theocracy. You would think that after all these years it would be clear to Americans that you can't give people democracy, they have to want it then it might be possible to help them get there.

Sounds familiar.

Dave

[finnbow]

To still maintain that the Iraq war was a good idea, given all we know now, is probably the most delusional thing I've ever read on this board. Pete will probably respond with a picture of an Iraqi woman with purple ink on her thumb as proof positive that it was a good idea, even in retrospect.

[nailer]

The Hashemites were the primary drivers of how the British drew the borders. The Tranjordan is still ruled by the Hashemite and Iraq was ruled by Faisal I of Iraq (Alec Guiness) until his death in 1933. The current problems were created by our overthrow of the Baathist regime and it's amusing the way Democrats forget that they supported OIF. Blaming the Brits a century after the fact for what's happening today is taking rhetorial hyperbole to the highest level of absurdity.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by nailer

The Hashemites were the primary drivers of how the British drew the borders. The Kingdom of Trans Jordan is still ruled by the Hashemites and Iraq was ruled by Faisal (Alec Guiness) until his death in 1933. The current problems were created by us and it's amusing the way Democrats forget that they supported OIF. Blaming the Brits a century after the fact for what's happening today is taking rhetorial hyperbole to the highest level of absurdity.

The drawings of the borders by the French and British in 1919 without regard to ethnicity or religion is indeed a large part of the genesis of the problems in the Mideast. It ain't exactly an issue of blame, per se, but simply some historical perspective.

As was true with Jugoslavia where Slovenes, Croats and Serbs were lumped together in one country after WWI, a strongman was needed in Iraq (as well as Syria and Lebanon) to hold together hostile factions once the Ottoman empire collapsed. Remove the strongman and whaddya get?

Tahseen Bashir, the famous Egyptian diplomat under Nasser and Sadat, had it (mostly) right when said "Egypt is the only nation-state in the Arab world; the rest are just tribes with flags."